The infrastructure spending burden is especially pronounced among the country’s lowest-income households. The CE’s lowest quintile—the bottom 20 percent of all consumer units—reported an annual income of $11,832, but they typically spent $6,040 across gas, electricity, telephones, water and sewer, and transportation services. That’s over 60 percent of all income on essential living expenses. Add the $6,331 spent on housing by this quintile and built environment costs actually exceed all income. No money left for food, no money left for health care, no money left for anything. It’s a frightening proposition for over 24 million households. And while the second-lowest income quintile faces a better situation, infrastructure plus housing spending still commands 58 percent of their income.

A part of the problem is sprawl. We've spread out and built separate infrastructure for each little area. That means more infrastructure and less taxes to cover each part. Then we drive between these little areas, typically living in one and working in another one, and shopping in a third. And we have massive and relatively expensive infrastructure for cars to facilitate this way of life.

Transportation, utilities, and housing are all more affordable if you have more people living in a more self-contained community. If you do it right, most people don't even need to drive that often, so that cost goes down too.

12k A year is 20 hrs a week at minimum wage, you cant really live off that but you can subsist. Technically that puts you under federal poverty guidelines so you should qualify for food stamps, subsidized housing and utilities. Under section 8 housing costs should not be more than 30% (the program covers the rest) so I dont understand the methodology here. Are they not accounting for subsidies and reduced rates? Is it 110% because of the subsidies? I would expect to see a huge spike between the Second lowest and lowest because those those people fall into a doughnut hole of services where they dont qualify for any assistance but still aren't making much more than the bottom 20. This data is just weird I dont really know what it is trying to say.

Section 8 vouchers are notoriously difficult to get. In many metro areas the waiting list is often multiple years long and once granted, if it isn't used within 90 days it's lost and the holder starts again at the back of the line. Even then, vouchers often cover a small percentage of demand; i think in LA, for example, it's under 10%.

It's probably 110% because the poor often live more than one family per household. I was feeling a little self-conscious about our 1300sf starter home that my wife bought in 2000... Then I realized that most of my peers have roommates or boarders.

if it isn't used within 90 days it's lost and the holder starts again at the back of the line

And if you live somewhere where the housing authority isn't allowed to insist landlords take their voucher holders, the housing authority is under pressure to place people in good neighborhoods but the landlords in good neighborhoods are afraid of poor people cooties so have fun being the rope in that tug of war.

Across the hall from me was a dude whose unit got raided by the cops and he got hauled off never to be seen again. Drug dealing was what we heard.

Below me was a girl addicted to meth. Her mother rescued her a couple times. I let her use my phone once. South of me was a nice lady who was a court reporter for mental health court. I fixed her car a couple times. Below her was a son and father who didn't work and stole my Netflix. He kept asking me to get Charlie Sheen's autograph, no matter how many times I told him I didn't work on 2 1/2 men, didn't shoot on the same set as 2 1/2 men, and had as much likelihood of running into Charlie Sheen as he did. Below and to the east was Paul.

If you're a landlord, you either commit to Section 8 or you don't. If you're a Section 8 landlord, you aren't picky and you do whatever you want to tenants. If you have even the slightest bit of interest in not having your building full of meth heads and dead-enders, you don't take Section 8.